Cleansing
by mysticxf
Summary: Jack awaits his fate after the surgery and receives an unexpected guest. Post 'I Do'


Lost and its characters belong to JJ Abrams, Bad Robot and The Others. Jack awaits his fate after the surgery and receives an unexpected guest.

Lost – Cleansing  
By Mystic  
November 13th 2006

* * *

Jack was expecting a bullet to the head every time the door opened. They'd left him to clean up the operating room, the only exit locked with Tom standing guard. Ben, he knew, was lying in a room somewhere beginning the recovery process, his tumor was lying at the bottom of a plastic bag in a corner along with everything else Jack had picked up and decided to toss away.

He wasn't cleaning up because he cared; he just needed something to do. Something to occupy his mind because the last thing he'd heard over the radios was that they'd been recaptured, that Juliet would handle the situation. He questioned Tom about how the situation would be handled and the man simply told him to clean the room, his voice void of any emotion.

Jack pressed his back into the wall and closed his eyes, waiting for the door to open again. He half expected them to bring him her body, to lay it in front of him and tell him that her death was what his insubordination brought. Then they'd put a bullet in his head because their use for him was over – Ben would recover and go on to live a normal life on Craphole Island.

He chuckled just before the door pushed open and when he looked up, he took in a breath, quick and frightened before meeting Juliet's eyes. The other woman pushed Kate forward towards him, a look of frustration on her face.

"Clean her up," she instructed before walking back out, the door slamming shut behind her, the lock clicking them inside together. No glass to separate them.

"Kate?" Jack said her name simply, taking a step towards her. He watched the slow rise and fall of her chest, the way her eyes remained vacant, staring at some spot on the ground far beyond his feet. Like she could see through him at that moment. Like he wasn't there.

He moved to her side and ushered her towards the operating table, looking down at her legs as they shuffled against his with each step, as though she were willing herself to move with him, but struggling at the same time. Jack rolled his eyes in muted anger and gave her a slight shove, hearing her whimper once before taking a step away.

She was shell-shocked.

Jack had seen it before, people so frightened they literally lost touch with reality. Lost in their own world, trying desperately to put the pieces of the real world back together in their mind – to make it make sense so they can keep going. He turned her towards him, raised her chin and touched a scrape along her cheek. As his eyes roamed her body, he found similar scratches on her arms, her top had been ripped here and there.

Because he told her to run and she did.

With a sigh, Jack put his hands under her arms and he lifted her onto the table, seating her in front of him so he could clean her face. He grabbed gauze pads from a bag and poured alcohol on them and he dabbed at her cuts as she flinched, her eyes never finding his.

Jack picked up a water bottle from the table beside him and he took a clean towel and he wiped her face. He swept her hair away from her eyes and he scrubbed the dirt from her brow. "They say we're going back to the main island," she whispered from somewhere far away.

"Main island?" Jack questioned softly, picking leaves out of her hair.

She went silent again and he lifted her right arm, using a new towel to rub the streaks of sweat and dirt. He looked away from her, scratching his head roughly before dropping her hand in her lap. Jack took a step away and looked back at Kate, watched her breathe evenly a few times before moving forward. He wondered if she'd even heard his question.

He cleaned her other arm and ran another new towel around her neck, picking her hair up for her when she didn't react. He sighed, then plucked her shirt, feeling it snap back at her skin, still damp and smelling of foliage and Sawyer. Jack pulled off the white Dharma top he'd worn underneath the scrubs and he put it in her lap.

"Change into that," he told her as he turned his back to her, waiting.

After a moment, he heard her move behind him, heard the dull slap of her top hitting the ground and then he felt her fingertips brush the back of the white t-shirt they'd given him. When he turned, she collapsed into him, her arms clasping onto him strongly as her knees bumped his. Jack swallowed his anger and his jealousy and all of the things he wanted to tell her and he held her, feeling her sob into his chest.

"I'm sorry," she managed. "I'm so sorry."

He felt her shaking against him, shivering from cold and fear and he turned his eyes towards the ceiling before closing them and bowing his head nearer to her ear. "It'll be ok," he told her, his arms moving her closer to him. "We'll be ok, we'll be fine." He repeated the words to her until they were whispers and then they were gone as he continued to rock her in his arms just enough to lull her, enough to let her know she was safe.

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Finis


End file.
